The nation's economic recovery is on a slow track, but the franchising industry is surging ahead.

The Franchise Business Economic Outlook reveals that franchising is responsible for 18 million jobs, and the industry is expected to add another 36,000 jobs by the end of 2010.

Overall franchise output will increase by 2.8 percent this year, with a net gain of $23.6 billion, according to the report.

Robert Stidham, president of Franchise Dynamics LLC, has a theory about why his industry is seeing so much growth in a down economy.

"Whenever you have a recession where unemployment is so high, you have a community of displaced people who reach a place where they don't want a corporate job anymore," he said. "Many of these people have management skills and access to capital - those are principally the people who are buying franchises."

Many who want to test the waters are attending this year's West Coast Franchise Expo. The event began Friday and runs through today at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

"If you are looking to own your own business, franchising is an option everyone should consider - especially if you've never owned your own business," said Ann Woods, who owns the Covina franchise for Express Employment Professionals.

The advantage, according to Woods, is that much of the foundation has already been been laid. So when someone steps into a franchise opportunity, they are dealing with a known quantity that has branding and operational procedures already in place.

"So much of it is already wired for you," said Woods, 49, of Glendora. "It's a business in a box."

Express Employment is the nation's fourth-largest staffing company and the only privately held business among the world's 20 largest staffing firms.

Bob Mauser, 49, of San Marino is another advocate of franchising. Mauser owns the franchise for CertaPro Painters of Pasadena.

"Three years ago when my wife and I were looking to start our own business, we were looking for a good, solid business model that couldn't easily be outsourced overseas," he said. "We wanted the independence of running a business without having to reinvent the wheel to do it."

The couple ultimately settled on CertaPro.

"If I tried to do this on my own I probably could, but it would have taken a lot more time and cost me a lot more," Mauser said. "You still do some learning on the ground, but you get up and running pretty fast."

Mauser said his venture has grown and fared better in this economy than some of the other private painting contractors.

"If you have a great, burning desire to get a new product out there on the market then yeah, go out on your own because that makes sense," he said. "But if you are looking to create a sustainable business, that's where franchising comes in."

CertaPro, the largest painting company in North America, expects to open a total of 20 franchise offices throughout the Los Angeles are over the next three to five years in areas such as San Gabriel, Whittier, Walnut, Granada Hills, Burbank, Culver City, Manhattan Beach, Glendale, Cerritos and Yorba Linda.